Snow Like Roses
by Joshua503
Summary: Ruby lies on the snow, bleeding to death after being shot by a sniper, deep in the woods.
1. Chapter 1

_It's cold._

That was my first thought, after a while of just trying to comprehend what had just happened.

The snow against my cheek was cold, and I could see the trees nearby, covered in white, and I can't see beyond them. My red cloak can't do anything to warm me up.

The snow under me starts to be stained red by my blood, and I can't move. I think one of the bullets hit my spine. I can't really feel much of my body. I know my legs have been shot, though, they were shot first.

I blink, slowly. _I'm alone. I'm going to die alone._

It wasn't how I'd thought I'd go out. I always thought I'd go out fighting for humankind, against the Grimm or some gang preying on the weak. Like my mother.

_She left us alone. She died fighting in some mission, and left us._

I try to move my arms, even a little, but I can't. They won't move. I can't even feel them.

_Was the mission she died on even important? I can't remember what it was. . ._

I try to lift my head. I can't. I don't have the strength.

_. . . Will I be missed? Yang, Blake, Weiss. . . Will they miss me? Will they cry like I did when I heard mom died? What will happen to Dad? He couldn't even talk after mom died. . ._

The blood's staining my cheek now. It doesn't warm me up. It feels cold too.

My breathing slows. I can barely hear it now. The trees stretch out, blanketed in white snow.

_How long will it be until they find my body? Will they ever find it? I'm so deep in the woods, they may never find me. . ._

The blood flows far enough that I can see it now.

_My blood is so red. . . It's red like my cloak. . .Red like roses. . ._

I try to shiver, to move at all. But I can't.

_. . ._

_There's no one coming to help me. . ._

_I'm going to die alone here. . ._

_I'm going to die in these woods alone. . ._

_. . . Will I be remembered? Did I do all that I could as a huntress? Did I. . . Did I make a difference? Did I actually help anyone?_

_. . . Did I accomplish anything I dreamed of?_

My breathing is scarce. I can barely hear it.

_. . . Did I even get close?_

My breathing stops. My heart stops beating. My blood stops flowing.

My last thought isn't of my life, or what I'm leaving behind. It's short and simple.

_It's so cold. . ._

**A/N: So, decided to take a break from Days at Signal, and write a death fic. I'll return to updating Days at Signal once this one is done. This is going to be a five chapter fic, and I already have the general idea of each planned out. The other chapters will be Ruby's teams' reactions to her death. After that, I'll return to Days at Signal.**

**Date:9/13/2014**


	2. Chapter 2

I don't cry when I hear that my baby sister's dead. I don't yell, I don't deny it, I don't just stop.

I just ask to see the body.

I don't cry when I see Ruby's lifeless body lying there, still stained with blood, wounds marring her corpse. I barely notice Blake cover her mouth, holding back tears, trying to deny what's in front of her eyes.

When the mortician asks if I can confirm her identity, I give a silent nod, and tell him that she's my baby sister.

As I say her name, the name of my baby sister, who I've loved and cared for all my life, who I would give anything to have back at that moment, I feel a voice in my head, a voice that will say something that I cannot let myself hear now. I push it away, I block it. I can't let it speak yet.

A few minutes later, I leave, driving downtown to the only place I can think of, where I can get the information I need.

* * *

The moon is rising when Junior's thugs see me, and hold open the door for me. As I enter the club, his gang parts, giving me a path directly to him. He notices as I walk towards him, and pulls out two pieces of paper from under the bar. He passes them to me with a nod. "Here's what you want to know. He's a guy who used to be in Torchwick's gang, but left when he wanted to make it big. Learned that making it as a gang leader isn't easy. Probably figured that killing a Hunter would help set him up big. From what I hear, he's squatting in the old warehouse at that address."

I stare silently at the numbers and letters on one piece of paper, and look at the photo of the man in the other, before asking, quietly, "Did you know it would happen?"

Junior just nods, slowly. "No. I just learned about it a few hours ago. Knew you'd be coming here, so I got the information."

I turn to walk away, and right before I exit the club, he says, with complete sincerity, "I'm sorry, about your sister. It's not right what he did."

I stop walking. A mix of emotions flow through me. Part of me wants to punch him, to trash this club, to destroy anything and everything around me. Another part just wants to leave, and find the man who stole away my baby sister, who had her entire life ahead of her. And then, the voice starts to speak. And I push that voice away again, shoving it down, keeping it from hearing what I cannot stand to hear.

I walk out of the club, and start driving.

* * *

I break down the door, and duck under a bullet, as the man who took away my baby sister, the one who stole away a young girl who just wanted to help the world, fires at me with fear drenched eyes.

I don't think anything, I just move, everything a blur, dodging his fire and letting my bare fist slam into his stomach. He doubles over, and I grab the gun and crush it. I bring my knee to his face, and watch as he crumples to the ground, cupping his broken nose. I kick his chest, knocking him down, and his arms go to the floor to try to get balance. I crush his right hand under my heel, and I just listen to him scream, until I punch him again. "Shut up," I whisper, cold and cruel. I move down to his head, I start punching him. Again, and again, and again. "You killed her. You killed my baby sister." I make sure he hears every word. As I punch him, over and over again, the voice starts to speak again. I push it away immediately.

I know that if the voice speaks, it will say something so horrible, so terrible, that I will break.

After some time, my hands start hurting, and I look at them. They're bruised, and bleeding, and I wonder how long I've been punching him. His face is a mess, unrecognizable, whimpering from the prolonged assault. I go to punch him again, and my hands scream in agony. Good. Pain is good. Keeps the voice away.

But I don't want to kill him yet. I want him to suffer. So I arm Ember Celica, and unload the ammo. Then I start punching away at him again. At his limbs, his face, his body, wherever my fists land."You killed her. . ." I whisper, anger barely contained. "You killed Ruby Rose. My baby sister." He screams, begging for mercy, but I ignore him.

"You killed Ruby Rose, my baby sister. My baby sister, who saw the best in everyone, who wanted to help people." Something snaps. He screams.

"Who wanted to be a Huntress, who wanted to protect those who couldn't protect themselves." Tears are streaming down my face now. But I don't stop. "Who wanted to make things better." Another snap. I pause, not moving, for a moment.

And then, I whisper something, so quietly even I couldn't hear it. And then, suddenly, I'm shouting, at the top of my lungs. "WHY?! WHAT DID SHE DO TO YOU?! SHE NEVER DID ANYTHING TO DESERVE WHAT YOU DID TO HER! YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED A GIRL WHO JUST WANTED TO PROTECT PEOPLE! WHO WANTED TO KEEP EVERYONE SAFE AND HAPPY! WHY?! WHY'D YOU KILL HER?!"

As I fall quiet again, he gives a choked sob from the pain. He's whimpering now, begging for forgiveness, promising me anything I want if I let him live.

I punch him again, stopping his begging. "No. You don't get a second chance. The only person in the entire world who would give you, _anybody_, a second chance, is lying dead in a morgue because of you." I stand up. "No. You killed your only second chance. You're going to die here, and I'm going to make sure you suffer before you do."

I retract Ember Celica. I want feel this. I want to feel his body break.

I want to feel his body break as he dies.

* * *

By the time I stop, dawn light is shining through the windows. I look down at him, barely breathing, his body mangled and broken, covered in bruises and lumps, bleeding everywhere. Almost every bone in his body is broken.

Almost.

He stopped whimpering hours ago, no longer having the breath for it. Dried tears stain his face. He's covered in blood, most of it his, some of it mine.

My hands are shaking. They're bruised, bleeding, and mangled. They are screaming in agony.

Good. Pain is good. Keeps the voice away.

I look outside the window. Soon, the city will come to life. People will wander the streets, go about their daily lives, lives that they don't even know are lesser than they were yesterday.

Because they will never be able to meet Ruby Rose, my baby sister, a person who would have given anything to keep them safe.

I look back at the murderer before me. He won't last long, even if I don't do anything now.

I stand over him, and then straddle his broken, mangled chest. He can't even scream. His mouth just opens wide in pain and no sound comes out. I pull my arm back, and send a punch across his face. Again. Again. I punch again and again, as my hands scream out in protest every time.

And then the voice starts to speak. I punch him harder, inflicting more pain on both of us, to drive the voice away.

And it starts to come back. I punch again, harder, more pain, and the voice gets driven away.

And it keeps coming back. I punch harder each time, pushing the voice away each time. But the voice keeps getting closer and closer, and I have to punch harder and harder each time to push it away.

I almost miss it when he dies.

My fist slams into his head, and he stops breathing. His heart stops beating. His blood stops flowing.

And suddenly, he's not a monster anymore. Just a bloody, mangled corpse.

I breathe in, and stand up, looking around for someone that isn't there. I can only whisper one word, hoping that someone says something back. "Ruby?"

And then, the voice speaks. It speaks quietly, calmly, and what it says is so terrible, so horrible, that it breaks me. And I can do nothing to stop it.

_What now?_

I give a choked sob.

And I shatter.

**A/N: Had to edit due to the brutality distracting from everything else.**

**PS: Does anyone know that short comic of Weiss as a child, looking for monsters in her closet? Because she's feeling lonely, and maybe the monsters are lonely too, and maybe they'd like to be friends? And at the end, the closet is empty, and the narration goes, "But Monsters aren't real. And I am alone again." I can't find it, and it'd be a long trek to try.**

**Date: 9/17/2014**


End file.
